Progress was slow in reaching out to all our local Oklahoma RW Club members but we completed our contacts and have identified six members of the Helen Cole RW Club and two members of the Cleveland County RW Club that sustained loss of their homes and belongings from the Moore, Oklahoma tornado.

Those wishing to assist these federation members directly are requested to send GIFT CARDS for Visa, Walmart or Target stores or if preferred, make checks payable to the HELEN COLE Republican Women's Club and mail to the local club president:

Helen Cole RW Club

Attn: Kay Osborn

101 E. Gray, Suite A

Norman, OK 73069

All donations will be distributed to these identified members immediately to fill-in the lapse of time until insurance or disaster relief funds are made available. Our Local RW members are furnishing temporary housing, supplies, transportation and labor for recovering any personal items at the demolished home sites.

I also ask for your continued prayers in the coming weeks for the residents of Moore. While the news cycle will soon change, these women, their families, businesses and their community will continue to face challenges of daily living and rebuilding in the coming months and yes, even years.

Thanks to the National Federation members for your messages of comfort, prayers and actions that show what "caring for America" is all about.

Warms regards,

Sue Thompson

Ok.FRW - State President

Speaker Boehnor Disparages Current Senate Immigration Bill

On May 23, 2013, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Republican Conference Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) issued a statement ensuring that "the House remains committed to fixing our broken immigration system," but made clear they "will not simply take up and accept the bill that is emerging in the Senate if it passes."

The House leaders insisted that "the House ... will ... produce its own legislation" after a "robust debate and amendment process." Calling border security, the immigration processes, and enforcement mechanisms "dysfunctional," the statement reiterated the House leadership's goal of enactment of legislation "that actually solves these problems."

Obama Cabinet Nominee "Bet Against America"

According to the Washington Times, during the 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama accused Republican challenger Mitt Romney of "betting against America" for investing in off-shore accounts that allegedly shielded him from paying U.S. taxes.

By that definition, Obama's recent pick for Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, has bet against America as well. On financial disclosure forms, Ms. Pritzker stated that she received $53.6 million in income in 2012 from a trust in the Bahamas. Ms. Pritzker, whose family owns the Hyatt hotel chain, served as Finance Chair for Obama's 2008 campaign. Her personal fortune is estimated at $1.85 billion.

As Prtizker's nomination hearing begins in the Senate next week, questions about the fact that her family has placed monies offshore for decades are sure to be raised in light of the administration's apparent hypocrisy in slamming Mr. Romney over tax havens and then nominating two people for his second term Cabinet who hold such investments. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also had an account in the Cayman Islands.

Even before 2012, Mr. Obama proposed closing tax loopholes for companies with overseas subsidiaries characterizing such actions as dodging responsibility "while ordinary Americans pick up the slack." One of Obama's campaign ads questioned Mr. Romney's patriotism by noting he had money in accounts in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. A spokesman for the White House would not address Republican accusations of hypocrisy against Mr. Obama.

National Affordable Care Act Spurs Lawsuits

President Obama's Affordable Care Act -- popularly known as Obamacare -- has spurred religiously devout business owners and non-profit entities with a religious affiliation to wage legal battles against the law's mandate that they provide employees with contraceptive coverage. As many as 60 cases have been filed nation-wide objecting to the impending mandate which requires employers to provide no-cost coverage of all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

An appeals court in Chicago heard arguments in two cases brought by business owners last week, as did an appeals court in Denver. Two other courts are set to hear similar cases in the next week. The company owners and non-profits claim their religious beliefs take precedence over the new federal requirement. Religious-affiliated non-profit corporations and institutions have asserted that the Obama administration is waging war on religious groups by insisting on the contraceptive mandate and cite the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) which prohibits the federal government from imposing a "substantial burden" on a person's exercise of religion unless there is a "compelling governmental interest" and the measure is the least restrictive method of achieving the interest.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers make the federal government's argument that secular, for-profit corporations are not entitled to the RFRA protections that apply to "persons" as mentioned in the law. They argue that if Congress had intended to include corporations in the RFRA, it would have done so explicitly. Those lawyers go on to add that while business owners may have personal religious beliefs, that does not free their corporations from having to comply with federal laws. Proponents of the mandate also claim that being forced to provide contraceptive coverage does not force business owners to use contraceptives - only to offer insurance plans that cover them - a distinction they say is no different from having an employee use her paycheck to pay for a procedure that the employer disapproves of.